There's been a noise from the rear of my bike. Today I had a moment at lunch to look at it. It was happening regardless of gear or pedaling, so I looked for a stick in the mud guard or wound around the hub. No luck. I popped the wheel out and found about 1/32 inch play in the axle and the drive side cone nut finger-loose. I don't know yet if a rebuild will fix it. If not I'd like to upgrade, but upgrades are expensive. USA MSRP for a Swiss 350 hub is >$200, others similar, MUSA more. I can't find anyone saying anything nice about Novatec or Formula hubs except the price. This on top of needing a new tire, at least I can find those on sale.

Pretty hot riding lately! But for the most part nothing interesting has happened to me lately, hence no posts.

That said, I hit a squirrel the other day. I was riding past a large oak tree, quite close to the road and I was not going fast. I had seen the squirrel running down the tree but he was pretty high up at the time and I didn't pay it much attention after it disappeared behind the trunk. But then I saw a little gray blur on the street just to my right just as I was going by the tree, and then I felt a little bump with the rear wheel. I thought it went kinda 'crunch' but maybe that was in my mind. Anyway, I turned my head ASAP and saw a squirrel running back up the tree. I guess I went over its tail.

__________________I put new leather on ruined saddles like Brooks, etc. You can reach me by private message.

Some ominous clouds in the sky, but any precipitation fell before I got there, with some damp spots on the trail.

Yesterday I got to ride home on the back dirt trail. It's been too muddy the last few months, but a couple dry days recently dried the trail out, at least in the higher spots. It was a treat to ride. Should be able to take the same way home again today, as the cloud is disappearing and the sun coming out.

They were setting up a carnival in an unused parking lot I often cut across. But today instead of riding through an empty lot I weaved in and out of carnival rides and games.....not going to lie it would have been fun to ride a bike through the Fun House.

There was a sign blocking the entrance to this lot, but as I would have had to go 2 miles back to get to work another way I said screw it and went in anyway.

Several people setting up the rides and games and corndog stands said hello. (They weren't making corn dogs at 8am though...so bummer)

It just reinforces my belief that if you act like you belong somewhere, no one will ever question you.

My grandmother used to have a sign hanging in her kitchen that said, "Why is there never enough time to do it right, but always enough time to do it over?"

One of my computer science books had a similar rhetorical question as a chapter by-line - "If you don't have time to do it right, do you have time to do it again?" 'Course, that underscores a difference between science and reality; often in IT, the answer is "yes". Getting a deliverable out, or a critical problem fixed, quickly, is sometimes the priority, even when it means going back again to do it right.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Skipjacks

It just reinforces my belief that if you act like you belong somewhere, no one will ever question you.

...
It just reinforces my belief that if you act like you belong somewhere, no one will ever question you.

You could have ridden around, stopping to inspect the setup progress, maybe even given some words of encouragement to the workers.

No carnivals for me, and only one squirrel that was attempting to cross the road. He wisely went back when he saw me coming. There were cars coming too.

Just about every afternoon this week we have had storms, or at least cloud cover move in. The best part of this is it cools it off from 90+F to 80 or below. But yesterday the radar looked a bit threatening. I managed to get home dry between storms by taking my shorter route and riding faster.

You could have ridden around, stopping to inspect the setup progress, maybe even given some words of encouragement to the workers.

No carnivals for me, and only one squirrel that was attempting to cross the road. He wisely went back when he saw me coming. There were cars coming too.

Just about every afternoon this week we have had storms, or at least cloud cover move in. The best part of this is it cools it off from 90+F to 80 or below. But yesterday the radar looked a bit threatening. I managed to get home dry between storms by taking my shorter route and riding faster.

We have had similar weather patterns north by north east of you in the Triad. Yesterday afternoon was probably as close to looking a hurricane as I would want to come strong strong winds rain coming down in buckets. It looked like the rain was blowing sideways. Many coworkers were concerned or calling me a fool for riding. I rode home in 70 about 15minutes later than usual. Nice ride! i rode down the greenway some today and lots of debris on the road. I moved one branch off the path it was at least 4 inches thick.

A very pleasant ride with the temp at 54f degrees, until I got to the last 1/2 mile the road is torn up so it is gravel and small rocks on a downhill. I did not enjoy this part of the ride. I am wondering how long it will take to pave this road. They have been working since late spring on this. Though to be fair they are also replacing water pipes at the same time.

Overcast sky and sunglasses were almost too dark for the first part of my ride. I turned on my rear blinky, but haven't remounted my headlight yet. Might have to do that soon.
Chances of rain around lunch and this afternoon.

On my way home last Friday I was eyeing the ominous clouds that seemed to be hovering over my neighborhood. Some winds kept me from making decent time. There was no rain until I got to the street I live on and then it unleashed a downpour. I hammered home as fast as I could. Still a bit soaked, but not horribly so.

Good rides to and from yesterday with much cooler temps. I think i like my new helmet. Hard to tell if it is actually cooler since the temps are about 22 degrees cooler than they were a week ago. I rode in this morning as well and a coworker said i cant believe you rode it is supposed to rain all day. I said i think it should stop around 2-3. I hope I am right.

It was dark enough at 0630 that my wife recommended i pull out the reflective straps and i agreed it seemed very dark even when compared to yesterday morning.

In one neighborhood the water tap in a yard had busted or something. Lots of water running down the street to a drain. I went wide into the middle of the street to stay out of the stream that was created.

Perfect morning.. still cool and little wind. Took it easy this morning since it's been a crazy week. Had a new road biker pass me in my neighborhood this morning. It's amusing how serious the guys on road bikes are. It did seem though that the cars respected my space more than his, I had way more lights and more visible. My youngest will be on his fourth day commuting to school. Working on making him more visible even though most of his route is sidewalk. He's leaving early just to ride extra.. that boy loves to ride.

Beautiful morning here too. 63F and clear. I left a little late, but made good time and got to the office in plenty of time.

After I climbed the stairs to the second floor, there was a lady and her young son looking a bit lost. I asked what she was looking for and she said the pediatrics office. I said it is in the next building on the second floor. There are two buildings that look just alike and no signs on the back side where all the parking is, easy to mix up if you don't come often.

Cool 54, light rain and windy. Definitely a headlight morning. Mounted two which was fortunately after one came out of the mount and hit the pavement, was fine on the gravel. Picked up the three pieces and finished riding in. A slight detour because of a train I didn't want to wait on in the rain. Wind is supposed to be stronger and shift out of the WNW this afternoon. Might get a little push at times on some short stretches if it does. Thinking I'll detour on the ride home and add a few miles of hills and gravel this afternoon.

Yesterday I took the MTB. Rear hub has been adjusted and the jam nuts tightened but it's still grinding. The bike feels solid, though, and this week I don't have $200 lying around to swap it for something nice, or even $70 for something better, so it's going to get neglected until it breaks or something. I did try loosening the caliper to make sure it wasn't that, also will be trying the frame bag and fenders, but not very hopeful. In spite of the worrying it was a good ride in and back.

I'm still unemployed, but I do have a commute now. I'm back in college. Today will be my third day in classes. I have a choice of routes. The river path is longer but much lower stress. I ride up the riverside to 72nd St and then cut across town in traffic, but that part isn't so bad. That's the route I took to class yesterday. As soon as I started, the rain became quite heavy. I wore my cycling jacket which isn't the least bit waterproof, but it's good anyway, as it becomes a warm sponge. I prefer that to something waterproof which makes me sweat inside. I wore sandals so I wouldn't care that my feet were wet. I brought a spare set of clothes but didn't end up using it, even though I was pretty darned wet when I arrived. I have the ability to wear wet clothes and not be terribly uncomfortable.

I chose to ride my Viscount fixie, my crappiest bike, and I don't care much of what happens to it. It's my only bike with toe clips, and the combination of those with sandals isn't so great. It has no fenders, so it wasn't the best choice. Next time it rains, I'll take my Raleigh which has fenders and commuter pedals. It's a good thing the temperature wasn't low.

The college doesn't have indoor bike parking, so it's nerve-wracking to lock my bike up in public. That's the appeal of a crappy bike. Maybe I should put fenders on the Viscount. I also have a single-speed freewheel I can put on it.

I took 2nd Avenue home which is hellish. It has entrances to the 59th St Bridge and the Queens Midtown tunnel, so there is a lot of turning cars.